Kevin Goes to Hollywood
by Tuxedo Mark
Summary: Captain N: The Game Master Season 4 Takes place after Man's Best Friend. Due to an accident, Kevin, Lana, Mike, Rick, and Stacey get sent to another universe, which closely resembles our own. On that Earth, Captain N is a popular TV show. Read Brot
1. Part 1

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD" PART 1 

Captain N: The Game Master

Season 4

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD"

PART 1   
WRITTEN BY  
MARK MOORE

  
Thursday, December 17, 1992, 11:53 AM 

    "C'mon, guys!" Rick yelled impatiently. He checked the time. "We're gonna be late for lunch!"     "Rick, I don't see what the big deal is." Kevin said, walking up to him.     "The big deal is that my grandparents are visiting for the weekend, and I promised my parents I'd _be_ there." Rick said.     "Well, why drag _us_ along?" Mike wanted to know, joining them in the white room they kept the Warp Zone Shifter in.     "Because, I want them to _meet_ you guys! Lana, Stacey!"     "Coming!" Lana yelled. She and Stacey walked into the room. "Can you tell us about your grandparents, Rick?"     Rick smiled. "Oh, you'll _love_ them! They love painting and pottery and classical music - "     "Boring!" Stacey interrupted. "I'm sorry, Rick, but there's no _way_ I'm gonna spend three hours listening to stuff about that!"     "I also told them about the band. I'm bringing a tape of your concerts so they can watch it." Rick held up the tape in his left hand.     "Free publicity." Kevin said.     "Cool." Mike added.     _"I'm_ there." Lana stated.     "Like, count _me_ in." Stacey agreed.     Rick smiled. "The warp zone opener should've finished recharging by now. I'll disconnect it from the Shifter, and we can leave." He went over to the control panel to check.     There was currently a heavy thunderstorm in the area. Now, an extra-loud clap of thunder boomed.     "Rick, uh, maybe we outta wait until after the storm _passes."_ Lana advised. "It might not be safe to use the Warp Zone Shifter in this weather. You might wanna unplug it. Dr. Wily never built a surge protector into it."     "It could be _hours_ before this storm passes, Lana!" Rick said. "By then, lunch will be _over!"_ He looked at the panel. "There, it's done recharging. We can go now." He reached with his right hand to remove the opener from the recharger that was built into the top of the control panel.     Suddenly, another bolt of lightning lit the sky outside, and another clap of thunder sounded. This time, however, the lightning hit the house.     The house itself wasn't affected, being protected from lightning strikes, but, true to Lana's warning, the Warp Zone Shifter received a surge.     "Ah!" Rick yelled as he pulled his hand away.     "Are you all right, man?!" Kevin asked, running forward with the others.     "The lightning must've hit it." Rick said.     "I _told_ you!" Lana said.     Rick looked at his hand. "It's okay, I'm fine." He pulled the opener out of the recharger.     "Is it all right?" Mike asked.     Rick looked it over. _"Looks_ all right. C'mon, let's go." He turned around and pointed the opener at the center of the room. He pressed a button.     A swirling blue warp opened.     Rick walked through, followed by Lana, Stacey, Mike, and Kevin. 

    They exited the warp and found themselves in a very familiar alley. The warp closed.     Because they didn't want Rick's parents to find out about Videoland, they weren't warping right into Rick's dining room for lunch.     Rick checked his watch again. "C'mon, we've got five minutes!"     They made their way to Rick's house. 

    When they got there, Rick opened the front door. They walked inside.     "Mom! Dad!" Rick yelled.     A black man and woman came into the living room, but they weren't Rick's parents.     "Who are you?!" the man demanded.     "Who are _you?"_ Rick asked. "Where are my parents?"     "Well, how the hell should _I_ know?" the man asked.     "This is my house." Rick said.     "I think you've got the wrong address." the woman said. "You best leave."     Rick stared at them for a moment, then turned around. "Let's go, guys."     Kevin, Mike, Lana, and Stacey followed Rick out the door.     "What was _that_ all about?" Kevin asked in surprise.     Rick shook his head. "I dunno. Somethin' _weird_ is goin' on here!"     "Let's go to _my_ house." Kevin said. 

    When they arrived, they didn't quite know what to make of what they saw.     "Kevin, you _sure_ you got the _right address?"_ Mike asked.     "Mike, I know where my house is, all right?"     "Well, it's not here _now."_ Lana said.     They were standing on the sidewalk, facing an empty lot.     "What is going on here?" Stacey asked.     They were all extremely worried by now.     A man walked by.     "Excuse me," Kevin asked him, pointing at the lot, "what happened to the house that used to be here?"     The man looked at the lot, then back at Kevin and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I don't know. I've only been living here in town for a month." He walked away, down the sidewalk.     Kevin and his friends looked at each other in confusion.     "A _month?"_ Kevin asked. "I was here _two days_ ago!"     "So what do we do now?" Rick asked. 

    Kevin signed the hotel registry, and the others did the same.     The woman behind the counter smiled as she handed Kevin a key. "Please enjoy your stay."     "Thanks." Kevin said.     "Each room has free Internet access. Happy surfing!"     Kevin nodded, and they went up to their room. 

    Mike paid the pizza delivery guy. "Thanks." He closed the door and locked it, then walked back over to where the others were sitting.     "All right!" they all cheered.     Mike smiled. "Not as fun as swiping it, but paying's cool, too."     Mike sat down and opened the box. They all took a slice of the pepperoni pizza.     Kevin stood up. "I'm gonna try calling my parents."     "Why?" Lana asked. "Your house isn't there."     "I know. I just wanna try." Kevin walked over to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed. It began to ring.     "Hello?" A teenage girl on the other end had picked up.     "Hello, may I please speak to Ned Keene?" Kevin asked.     "Sorry, you've got the wrong number."     "Sorry. Thanks." Kevin hung up. He looked at the others.     "Wrong number?" Stacey asked.     Kevin nodded, then walk back over to them. "I guess I should've expected it."     "Don't worry, Kevin, we'll find out what's going on." Lana assured him.     Kevin sat back down, nodding.     "Rick, what time is it?" Lana asked.     Rick checked his watch. "One o'clock."     Mike looked at Kevin. "It doesn't _feel_ like one."     Kevin looked at him. "I _know._ What's up?"     _"That_ is what's up." Lana said, pointing with her left hand out the window.     The others turned to look where Lana was pointing.     "Look at where the _sun_ is. It looks like it's late afternoon."     "Late afternoon?" Kevin asked. "How is _that_ possible?"     Lana got up and went over to the phone. She picked up the receiver, and, after reading the instructions, dialed the front desk.     The woman picked up. "Hello?"     "Yes, hi. My watch stopped." Lana lied. "May I please have the correct time?"     "Certainly. 4:30."     "And the _date?"_ Lana decided to ask.     "Wednesday, April 22nd, 1998."     Lana jolted. "Th-thanks!" She slammed the phone down.     The others stood up and walked over to her at a fast pace.     "What _is_ it, Lana? What's _wrong?"_ Kevin asked.     "The date is Wednesday, April 22nd,...1998."     "What?!" Mike asked.     "1998?!" Rick asked.     They stood in silence for a moment, thinking about this.     "Kevin," Lana asked hesitantly, "we're in the future, aren't we?"     "Yeah," Kevin said, nodding, "and we can never go back." 

    Rick looked up at them after a long moment of silent thought. "I don't see why we can't do it."     They were all sitting down again.     "Rick, we've traveled through _time."_ Kevin said. "Do you know what that _means?"_     "Yeah." Rick said. "We came _here,_ now we go back _there."_     "We _can't,_ Rick." Kevin said.     "Why _not?"_     "We can only go one way safely: forward."     Rick shook his head. "I don't understand."     "You know how three years ago, we went forward one week?"     Rick nodded.     "We _stayed_ there." Kevin said. "We made no attempt to _go back."_     "Why not?"     "Because we had already made an impact on future events. If we went back to the present, we would be altering the timeline. We could've somehow prevented our past selves from destroying the Three Sacred Treasures."     "All you would've had to do was hide out until the point when you went back, and everything would've been _cool."_ Rick said.     Kevin shook his head. "Too risky. We might've gotten caught."     "Well, what about _now?"_ Rick asked. "We can go back to 1993, and when today comes along, we'll stay in Videoland. That way, we won't affect events that we've already been through."     Kevin shook his head again. "You're forgetting that we'll be affecting past events, _nonetheless,_ both here _and_ in Videoland. Sorry, guys, I'm afraid we're stuck here. Besides, Rick, we couldn't go back even if we _wanted_ to. I have no idea how we opened up a time warp."     _"I_ do." Lana said. She looked at Rick. "It's all _your_ fault!"     Rick stood up and pointed at himself. _"Mine?!"_     Lana stood up. "That's right. I _told_ you not to use the Warp Zone Shifter during a thunderstorm, but hey, it _'looks_ all right'!"     "You still angry about that?" Mike asked with a smile, trying to lighten the mood. "That was _years_ ago!"     "Shut up, Mike, this isn't funny!" Lana shot at him.     Kevin stood up and whistled. "Cool it, guys!"     Everyone looked at him.     "Kevin's right." Lana admitted. "Let's...let's go back to Videoland."     Kevin nodded.     "Uh-oh." Rick said.     Lana looked at him, annoyed. "Don't say 'Uh-oh'."     Rick was examining the warp zone opener. "The lightning bolt fried the circuits. We could only open one warp, and then it died."     "Can you fix it?" Stacey asked.     Rick nodded. _"Fortunately,_ yes. _Unfortunately,_ it's gonna take me quite a _while."_     "How long is a 'while', Rick?" Mike asked.     Rick sighed. "About two days. I'm gonna have to go out and buy some new parts to replace the ones that were damaged."     "Fine, you're in charge of fixing it." Kevin said.     "And what are _you_ gonna do?" Rick asked.     "Go on the Internet and see what's been happening all these years." 

    Kevin sat by the computer alone. Rick, Lana, Mike, and Stacey had gone to shop for replacement parts.     After a half-hour of idly browsing, Kevin decided to log onto DALnet and chat with someone. He used a program called mIRC.     Kevin chose to get a list of the channels. It took quite a while. There were a lot of them. A lot of sex channels too, Kevin noticed.     As he was scrolling through the list, one particular channel caused him to stop short and read the name outloud. "'#Captain_N'?" Then he looked at the topic next to it. "'Welcome To Videoland!'?!" _What's going on here?_ he wondered.     His first thought was that maybe the remaining members of the Videoland Club had decided to go public with their knowledge of the game universe.     Kevin sighed. "Leave it to Romeo and Julius to screw things up."     He decided to join the channel. 
    
    
    Session Start: Wed Apr 22 17:03:23 1998
    *** Now talking in #Captain_N
    

    Kevin noticed that there was someone called "Dragonicus" already in the room, and Kevin was using the name "Kevin_Keene". 
    
    
     Welcome to Videoland!
     Uh,...thanks.
     Cap, is that you?
     Yeah!
     Cool! Hey, how'd you get on at night?!
    

    "That's all he can ask me after five years?" Kevin asked himself in surprise. 
    
    
     I'm in a hotel room. I can get on the 'net from here.
     Awesome! Wait 'til the others arrive! They'll be so
    thrilled!
     Everyone else comes here, too?
     Of course!
     Is this Romeo or Julius?
     What?
     What's your name?
     Nick
     Nick what?
     Pinto
     Hehee...
     Shut up.
    

    Nick was sitting in his bedroom in his house in Stratford, Connecticut, chatting on DALnet with who he believed to be his friend. 
    
    
     Mark, is that you?
     Pardon?
     You're not Mark Moore?
     No. What made you think I was?
     Your nick. Mark sometimes uses it when he can't use
    Captain_N.
     Man, is everybody finding out about this now?!
     Yeah, it's great, isn't it?!
     I dunno.
     What's your name?
     Kevin
     Kevin what?
     Kevin Keene
     For real?
     Yeah, why?
     Well, that's Kevin's last name on the show. That's why I
    asked.
     Show? What show?
     Captain N: The Game Master
    

    Kevin was definitely surprised. 
    
    
     Oh, man, there's a show about me now?!
     What? You're not saying you're Kevin, are you?
     Well, yeah.
     Um...okay.
     What does THAT mean?
     Nothing. So, you probably haven't found the page yet, huh?
     What page?
     http://members.tripod.com/~captain_n
     Okay, goin' there...
    

    Kevin copied the URL, switched to Netscape, pasted it, and hit Enter.     The site began to load.     "What the - " Kevin wondered. "The Unofficial Captain N Home Page?"     He switched back to mIRC. 
    
    
     There's a whole SITE about me?!
     Save it, Mark. I don't believe you're Kevin. I know we
    talked about writing an episode, but you're not gonna fool me.
     Episode?
     Kevin Goes To Hollywood
     Uh...
     All right, if you're really Kevin, try to prove it to me!
     Okay, how?
     Is there a scanner in the room?
     Yeah, to the left of the computer.
     Do you have a picture of yourself?
     Nope. =(
     Scan your face and send it to me.
     Um...okay. Hold on...
    

    Kevin switched to the desktop and opened the scanning program. He got up, lifted the lid of the scanner, started a scan, and put his face flat on the scanner.     After the scan was done, he closed the lid, saved the picture as me.jpg, exited the scanning program, and switched back to mIRC. 
    
    
     Okay, got it.
     DCC Send it.
    

    Kevin did. 
    
    
     Got it. BRB.
    

    Nick switched to the desktop, opened a picture-viewing program, and opened the picture he just got.     "What the - " Nick started as he looked at the image.     It was a kid sticking his tongue out and licking the scanner. He looked like he was eighteen years old. The resemblence was unmistakable.     Nick quickly switched back to mIRC. 
    
    
     You really ARE Captain N, AREN'T you???
     Yep.
    

    "Oh, man." Nick said. 

    Rick, Mike, Lana, and Stacey got back to the hotel room at 8:00 PM. They had paper bags in their hands.     "We're back!" Lana said.     Kevin got out of the chair by the computer and walked over to them. "You got everything you need?"     Rick nodded. "Yep. I should be able to fix the opener with these parts we got at Radio Shack. Then we can go home."     "That's great." Kevin said. "But there's something you guys should know."     "What?" Stacey asked.     "We're not on our Earth."     "Say _what?"_ Rick asked.     "What have you been smokin', Keene?" Mike asked.     "I'm _serious."_ Kevin said. "Look, while you were gone, I went online. I found a channel on IRC called 'Captain_N'. There was this guy on there named Nick. He pointed me to a website. It's about _us."_     "What?!" Rick asked.     The others were also surprised.     "The lightning bolt scrambled the circuits as we suspected, but it did so in such a way that we warped to a random universe. On _this_ Earth, there is - or rather _was_ - a Saturday morning cartoon called 'Captain N: The Game Master'. It was about _us!"_     "No kiddin'." Rick said. "Wow!"     "Anyway, there's a whole website devoted to us. It's dedicated to keeping the N Team alive, so to speak."     "Cool." Mike said.     "Awesome!" Stacey said. "We're, like, _famous!"_     "Uh, not _exactly."_ Kevin said. "The show was canceled after only three seasons."     "Aw, man!" Lana said.     "I'm meeting the guy that created the site tomorrow on IRC. Nick e-mailed him and told him to be on." Kevin grinned. "You guys wanna see the site?"     "Like, totally!" Stacey said. 

**TO BE CONTINUED...**   
Copyright © 1998, 1999 by Mark Moore 


	2. Part 2

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD" PART 2 

Captain N: The Game Master

Season 4

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD"

PART 2   
WRITTEN BY  
MARK MOORE  
AND  
MANDI PAUGH

  
Friday, December 18, 1992, 8:25 AM 

    Matt Slater was sitting behind the counter in the school library at Central Florida Community College. He had shoulder-length auburn hair and had it tied back in a ponytail. Matt worked at the library. At the moment, though, he wasn't doing anything work-related.     He opened up the drawer behind the counter and pulled out two small magnets with opposite polarity. He set them down in front of him. Holding one of the magnets in his right hand, he used it to push the second magnet along the counter.     "God, I'm bored." Matt said.     Mark Moore, one of Matt's friends, was sitting at a computer. Mark was 5'7" tall - shorter than Matt - and had short black hair.     He checked his e-mail like he did every day. He had one message. 
    
    
    Mark,
    Go on IRC right away on Thursday! There's someone on the channel you're
    gonna wanna meet!
    Keep it N!
    Niko
    

    Mark shrugged and saved the message to his disk.     He switched to the desktop and started up Pirch, the IRC program used at his school.     When he was logged on, he joined #Captain_N. 
    
    
    *** Log file opened: 04/23/98 2:50:59 PM
    Captain_N [~kevinkeen@205.129.13.121] has joined #Captain_N
    Welcome to Videoland! (Dragonicus)
    ChanServ sets mode: +o Captain_N
    Captain_N changes topic to "Welcome to Videoland!"
    Kevin_Keene [cap@dyn028a.px2-cal.northridge.net] has joined #Captain_N
    ChanServ sets mode: +o Kevin_Keene
     Cool, I got Ops!
     Hi.
     Hey, there!
     Nick told me to meet you here.
     Yeah.
     So, what's up?
     Do you believe in alternate universes?
     Yeah.
     Well, I'm Kevin from the show.
    

    Mark got really excited. 
    
    
     Matt Hill?!
     LOL! No, Kevin Keene! I'm Captain N!!!
     Are you serious?
     Yeah! You don't believe me, huh?
     I'm willing to believe you. Can you prove you're really
    Kevin?
     Picture on the way.
     Got it. BRB.
    

    Mark switched to Netscape and loaded the picture.     He was very surprised. It was the same picture Kevin had sent to Nick.     The guy looked like Dorian Barag, but it _couldn't_ be him. Too young.     That left one explanation.     "Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman!" Mark said, freaking out.     "Shut the hell up!" a voice directed.     Mark turned to his right. Matt was standing there, smiling.     Mark stood up. "Guess who I'm chatting with!"     "Who?" Matt asked.     Mark stepped aside and let Matt view Kevin's picture.     "Uh..." Matt began.     "Kevin Keene!" Mark said.     "Who the hell is Kevin Keene?" Matt asked.     "Captain N!"     Matt smiled. "Uh,...yeah,...okay, Mark."     "Really! Look at the picture!"     "I saw it. It doesn't _prove_ anything."     "Okay, then." Mark switched back to Pirch. 
    
    
     Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman!
     =)
     Are you Captain N?
     Yep!
    

    Mark turned to face Matt.     "Someone's pulling your leg, Mark." Matt said and walked away.     Mark sat down and looked back at the computer screen. 
    
    
     My friend here is skeptical.
     Figures.
     Man, this is so AWESOME! Me chatting with Captain N!
     Wasn't something you expected to do today, was it?
     How many others know besides Nick?
     No one. Nick's keeping it a secret.
     Listen, we gotta tell the others.
     Okay. I'll e-mail them. What are their addresses?
     No, no, no. I got a better idea. We should all get
    together.
     Where?
     How about my house tomorrow?
     But you live in Florida.
     I know.
     Uh, let me ask the others.
     Others? Who's there with you?
     Lana, Mike, Rick, and Stacey
     AWESOME!!!
     BRB
    

    Kevin got up and walked over to the others, who were all lying on the floor. Rick and Mike were working on the warp zone opener. Lana and Stacey were watching them with curiosity.     "Guys," Kevin said, "how would you like to go to Florida?"     The four of them looked up at him.     "What?" Mike asked.     "Mark invited us over to his house. Wanna go?"     "Sorry, Kevin, we _can't."_ Rick said. "I gotta work on the opener."     "Oh, c'mon, Rick," Kevin said, "you can work on it _there._ You said you would need a few days _anyway._ We can hop on a plane, go to Florida, meet Mark and his friends, then go back to Megaland!"     "Please, Rick?" Stacey begged.     "Please, Rick?" Lana echoed.     "Please, Rick?" Mike repeated.     Rick looked at all of them one at a time. "Okay."     The others all cheered.     Kevin grinned. "I'm gonna go tell Mark." He went back to the computer. 
    
    
     It's a go!
     Great! I'll e-mail my friends and ask if they can come!
    Mark,
    A Captain N convention? Hmmm... well, I did need to head down in that
    direction anyway... =) If I'm going to go out to your place first,
    though, I'll need to know which airport is closest to you and how to get
    from there to you.
    Mandi
    Mark,
    I accept your invitation. Just give me directions. I'll be there
    tomorrow!
    Andres
    Mark,
    I would LOVE to come visit you! Just give me directions. I'll be there
    tomorrow!
    Nick
    Mark,
    I'd really love to come over, but I'm afraid my parents won't let me go
    to Florida! AAARRRGGGHHH!!! The first Captain N Convention, and I can't
    be a part of it! I'm so sorry!
    The Devistated Mega Girl
    Who has rusted her pink armor with her tears
    

    Mark ran up to the counter, and the whole room shook.     Matt looked up. "Damn, Mark, I could _feel_ you comin'!"     Mark was excited. "Matt, I just got Nick, Andres, and Mandi to come here tomorrow! Kevin and the others are on their way, too! We're gonna meet at my house!"     "Shhh, Mark! People are trying to study!" Matt scolded.     "Dude, Captain N is coming over to my house!"     "Yeah, yeah, Mark. Let's go down to the student lounge."     So, Mark followed Matt out of the library. They walked over to the elevator.     "Matt, c'mon, man! I'm serious!" Mark insisted.     "Damn it, Mark, don't trying pulling this crap on me while I've got the munchies! I'm not in the mood!"     Matt pressed the button to call the elevator. It came, the doors opened, and they stepped inside. Matt pressed the button for floor 1.     Matt and Mark ritually threw their bookbags on the floor and leaned against the walls they were standing in front of. They slowly slid until they reached the back wall.     Matt nodded. "Better." 

Saturday, December 19, 1992, 1:30 AM 

    Mark didn't go to school. He stayed home and waited out in the driveway for his guests to arrive.     Matt was the first. He parked the car in the garage and got out.     "Glad you could come!" Mark said with a smile.     "Is Mike coming?" Matt asked.     "I called him yesterday. He'll be here soon." 

    Sure enough, his mom dropped him off at Mark's house soon.     Mike was a little taller than Mark and had short black hair.     "Hey, Mike!" Mark said.     "Hey, what's up, foo?!" Mike greeted.     "Oh,...not much." Mark said with a grin.     "What?" Mike asked with a smile.     "You didn't tell him?" Matt asked Mark.     "Tell me what?" Mike asked.     "Okay, only me, Matt, and Nick know about this." Mark said.     "Nick?"     "From IRC." Mark said. "He, Andres, and Mandi are coming here!"     "Cool!" Mike said.     "That's not all, Mark. Tell him who else is coming." Matt said.     "Nah, let's have it be a surprise."     "Aw, c'mon, man! Tell me!" Mike pleaded.     Mark laughed and shook his head. "You'll have to wait!" 

    Soon, a car turned into the driveway and parked in the garage. A guy got out. It was Nick.     "Hey, Mark!" Nick said.     "Nick!"     They shook hands.     A second car came up the road. It was in really bad shape.     "Must be Andres." Mark commented.     "How do you know?" Mike asked.     Mark nodded. "I know."     Once the car parked on the grass by the mailbox, the driver - Andres - walked out.     Andres Thalheimer stood about 5'9" tall and weighed around 270 pounds, but mostly due to muscle, so he looked like someone who's 230 pounds. He had shoulder-length curly black hair, brown eyes, and strong facial features. Though he's mostly German, he looked more like his Native American side. He was 19 years old. He was dressed mostly in black, including his black leather trench coat that went down to his ankles. He had a silver stud on each ear.     "Hey, Andres, how was your trip?" Mark asked.     Andres pointed at him. "It blew. Don't ask, man."     "Okay." Mark looked at everyone. "Mandi should be here soon."     Just then, a cab came into the driveway. A girl got out and went over to the driver side. After paying the cabby, he drove off.     The girl faced Mark and the others. She had short brown hair, green eyes, and appeared about 5'6". She had a purple backpack slung over her shoulder.     "You must be Mark." she said, walking up to him.     "Hi, Mandi!" Mark greeted.     Mandi offered her right hand, and Mark shook it.     "So," Mark asked, looking at all of them, "what do you guys wanna do first?"     "Introducing us would be nice." Matt said.     "Oh, yeah. I'm Mark Moore. This is Matthew Slater, - "     "Matt." Matt said with a growl, his eyes blazing.     "Matt Slater, Michael Lee Rohm, Andres Thalheimer, Miranda Leigh Paugh, and Nicholas Pinto." Mark said. "Well, let's go in the house." 

    Matt jumped backwards and landed on the couch in front of the window.     They were all in the living room now.     "You know, I'm amazed we all found our way here." Mandi said.     "I led you here," Matt said, "for I am Spartacus."     They all looked at Matt.     "'That Thing You Do!'" Matt said. "You guys _must've seen_ it."     "I didn't." Mike said.     "Me neither." Nick added.     "Nuh-uh." Andres agreed.     "Ditto." Mandi chimed in.     Matt gave them all looks and, because of their order, ended up gazing last at her.     "Hey, I don't watch movies much." she apologized with a grin, holding up her hands as if to ward off a confrontation.     Matt looked at Mark. "Mark, I know _you_ saw it, 'cause I let you borrow it. Put in your copy."     "Um,...I sorta...forgot where I put it." Mark said.     "How convenient." Matt said.     Just then, they heard a car approaching outside. They turned and looked.     It was a cab.     "C'mon, guys!" Mark said, walking out the door.     "They're here!" Nick said, following him.     _"Who's_ here?" Mandi asked, following them.     "Yeah." Mike said, following them.     "Yeah." Andres echoed, following them.     "Yeah, _right."_ Matt said, getting off the couch and following them. 

    Mark and the others walked into the driveway.     The cab doors opened.     Mark and Nick waited in breathless anticipation.     Out of the back seat came a black man with short hair. After him came a guy with medium-length brown hair. He stood to the black man's left. From the other side of the cab - the side not facing Mark's house - came a girl with short brown hair, followed by a girl with long blonde hair. They walked over to the driveway. The blonde girl stood to the white guy's left, and the brown-haired girl stood to the blonde's left. Finally, out of the passenger side came a boy with short brown hair. He stood to the brown-haired girl's left.     The cabby drove off.     All was silent. Mark and his friends were all staring at the black 'N' on the red and white jacket worn by the boy on the right.     Mark's face went pale, as did Mandi, Nick, and Andres'. No one spoke.     Finally, the boy on the right laughed. "Man, I didn't know I'd have _this_ effect on people!"     "Are you - " Mark began. "Are you _him?_ Are you Captain N: The Game Master?"     "The one and only. But hey, call me Kevin. All my friends do."     Mark, Mandi, Nick, and Andres gasped.     "It's really _him!"_ Mandi said in wonder.     The boy with medium-length brown hair looked at Kevin. "What makes _you_ so special, Keene?"     "Oh, yeah." Kevin said. "These are my friends: Mike Vincent, Rick Walker, Stacey Anderson, and Princess Lana Deschain."     Stacey waved with her left hand. "Like, hi!"     "How's it goin'?" Rick asked.     "F-fine!" Nick sputtered.     "Ohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohmanohman - " Mark and Nick began.     "Shut up!" Matt yelled, whacking Mark in the back of the head.     Mandi just stood there, gazing at the N Teamsters in stunned silence.     "This isn't Captain N!" Matt said. "And these aren't Lana, Mike, Stacey, and Rick. They're just look-a-likes that are tryin' to fool ya!"     "He's a disbeliever." Mark explained.     "So am I, Mark." Mike told him. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you hired these actors _yourself!"_     This got Andres thinking. _"Did_ you, Mark?" he asked.     "No, of course not!" Mark said.     "Trust me, we're really them." Lana said with a smile.     "Yeah, right, and I'm the President of the United States." Andres said.     Lana grinned. "Oh, no, I'm not getting fooled again."     "Well, um,...please come in." Mark said, a broad smile on his face.     The five newcomers nodded, and they all walked into the house. 

    "Anyone want a Pepsi?" Mark asked, walking into the kitchen. "Yesterday, after school, I bought a whole bunch for today!"     "I'll have one!" Kevin said.     "Me, too!" Lana added.     "Yeah." Stacey, Mike Vincent, Rick, Nick, and Mike Rohm agreed.     Mark handed them each a bottle as they came into the kitchen for it.     "Matt?" Mark asked, holding up a bottle.     "You know I don't drink that crap, Mark." Matt said. "Give me a Mountain Dew. It's from the _makers_ of Pepsi, so close enough."     "I don't have any." Mark said. "I don't do the Dew. It's got Yellow 5 in it. Dude, that stuff makes your bladder grow inward and lowers your sperm count."     Matt smiled and nodded. "Thank you for sharing that. Gimme a damn milk."     Mark did.     "Thanks." Matt said, taking the glass.     "Mandi, Pepsi?" Mark asked, holding the bottle up.     Mandi shook her head. "No, thanks. I can't drink carbonation. It doesn't agree with me. It burns my mouth and my throat and upsets my stomach. Generally, it's totally not fun at all. So, since I don't have to, why put myself through such torture?"     Lana laughed. "That's kinda like what Kid Icarus said!"     Mandi smiled. "Yeah, except it's more intense for me."     "Want a glass of O.J., then?" Mark offered.     Matt sighed. "Guilty, guilty, guilty."     Mark laughed. "Orange juice?"     Mandi nodded, smiling. "Sure."     Mark poured her a glass and handed it to her.     "Thanks." Mandi said.     "I'll have one, too." Andres said.     Mark gave him a glass of orange juice as well.     Mark walked towards the living room. "Okay, let's watch some Captain N!"     "I think that's my cue to call my mom and have her pick me up." Mike said to him, walking towards the phone.     Mark grabbed hold of him and pulled him into the living room.     Mark took a tape off the shelf, took it out of its cover, and put it in the VCR. He turned on the TV and pressed Play.     They all sat down in the living room and watched as the theme song began.     A map of Videoland appeared on the TV screen, and a male voice announced: "Welcome to Videoland!"     Then Megaland was shown, and Mega Man zoomed by, waving. "Mega hi!"     Then Mount Icarus appeared. Kid Icarus was lying on a cloud, asleep, and Lana said: "Wake up, Kid Icarus." Kid Icarus woke up and shot a lightning arrow to the left of the screen, which turned into a lightning bolt as the scene changed again.     The castle on Castlevania was shown. The Count flew towards the screen in bat form. "Welcome to Castlevania!" he said. "Yahoo! Yahoo!" Simon, who was chasing the Count, yelled.     Then Donkey Kong was shown in Kongoland, stirring a large bowl. "It's Kongoland!" Kevin said, and Donkey Kong yelled.     Then Metroid was shown, and then Mother Brain. "Mother Brain will get you, little Princess!" she said, then laughed.     The Palace of Power was shown as Kid Icarus yelled: "Princess, the Palace is under siege!"     Lana, Simon, Mega Man, and Kid Icarus were shown standing around the pedestal as the male voice announced: "Behold, the Ultimate Warp Zone!" The warp opened to show an overview shot of Kevin's house on Earth.     Then Kevin was shown playing Punch-Out in his room with an NES Advantage. Duke was there, too, holding a gray Zapper in his mouth. The picture on Kevin's TV screen fuzzed up. "Wow!" Kevin said as the four members of the N Team appeared on his screen. "Kevin, I thought I told you to clean up your room!" Cheryl yelled. The blast came out of Kevin's TV. He backed away and tried to hold on. "Whoa!" He was pulled through, screaming. Duke saw this and jumped in after his master.     They were shown falling through the Ultimate Warp Zone, now animated.     Then there was an effect of a TV being clicked off.     Then the entire N Team was shown standing in front of the throne. Kevin drew his Zapper and fired at the screen.     Then a black screen was shown. The series' logo appeared as the male voice announced: "Captain N: The Game Master!"     Then the screen faded.     The first episode, "KEVIN IN VIDEOLAND", started. The title and author's name were superimposed on a scene of troops marching towards the Palace. "It was a dark day for Videoland." the male voice announced. "For seven years, Mother Brain's minions have laid siege on the Palace of Power." The troops were chanting eerily.     Watching that episode brought back a lot of memories. Kevin and Lana were interested in seeing what happened in scenes they weren't in. Mike, Stacey, and Rick were interested in seeing the actual events they've only been told about play out before them.     However, when they watched version 2 of "HOW'S BAYOU", Kevin remarked: "Hey, this doesn't look right! Duke was lying down when I was playing Bayou Billy! He was standing next to me when I was playing Punch-Out!"     "There are two versions of this episode." Mark explained.     "Oh, yeah, I remember reading about that on your site." Kevin said.     They watched selected episodes from Seasons 1 and 2 and The Legend of Zelda.     When the theme song for Season 3 started, and the N Team literally poked their heads out of Kevin's TV screen, Kevin went: "Uh,...no."     All the N Teamsters gasped at the cheesy animation of Season 3.     "It makes me gag." Mandi commented. 

    "Well, _that_ certainly was interesting." Mike Rohm commented on "BATTLE OF THE BASEBALL KNOW-IT-ALLS".     Mark ejected the tape from the VCR, put it back in its sleeve, and placed it back on the shelf. He faced Mandi. "Let's watch the Spanish 'HOW'S BAYOU' now."     Kevin smiled. "This should be fun."     Mandi opened up her purple backpack and handed Mark the tape. "I copied it onto a VHS tape."     Mark put it into the VCR and pressed Play.     Everyone couldn't help but laugh at the voices. 

    After the episode was over, Mark ejected the tape and handed it back to Mandi.     Mike Rohm grinned. "¿Te gusta jugar con queso?"     Matt grinned. "Yo quiero Taco Bell."     "Heh, Spartacus speaks Spanish." Mike Vincent said with a smile.     Matt stood up and raised his arms in the air. "I _am_ Spartacus!"     Kevin laughed. "You and Kid Icarus would make good friends!"     "No, actually, he and _Gameboy!"_ Mark faced Matt. "Matt, do your Gameboy impersonation."     "Compliance." Matt said in a near-perfect imitation of Gameboy's voice.     The others gasped.     "That's incredible!" Rick said.     "Like, totally!" Stacey added.     "Do some more!" Lana said.     "Affirmative." Matt continued in Gameboy's voice. "Request received and carried out."     The others were amazed all over again.     "Okay, let me show you around the house." Mark offered.     "I'd join you, but I really gotta fix the warp zone opener!" Rick said.     Mark smiled. "No problem, Rick. You can use the kitchen table."     Rick nodded. "Thank you." He walked into the kitchen.     "All right, follow me." Mark said. 

**TO BE CONTINUED...**   
Copyright © 1998, 1999 by Mark Moore and Mandi Paugh 


	3. Part 3

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD" PART 3 

Captain N: The Game Master

Season 4

"KEVIN GOES TO HOLLYWOOD"

PART 3   
WRITTEN BY  
MARK MOORE  
AND  
MANDI PAUGH

  
Saturday, December 19, 1992, 4:00 AM 

    "This is my room." Mark said.     Andres looked at the poster behind the door. "Uh,...Mark?"     "What?" Mark asked. "It's perfectly normal for a nineteen-year-old American boy to have a poster of MacDuff chopping off MacBeth's head hanging on a wall in his room."     "Is that a Nike swish in MacBeth's hair?" Nick asked.     "Yeah." Mark said. "Anyway, here's my Nintendo."     Kevin smiled. "Cool! I can't _wait_ to see what the games look like on _this_ world!"     So, the others watched as Kevin tried out some of Mark's games. 

    "Well," Kevin said afterwards, "the Super Mario Bros. games seem to be identical to the ones on _my_ world. But other series have definite differences. The CastleVania series, for instance, has a _capital_ 'V', whereas my Castlevania games have a _lowercase_ 'v'. Also, the storyline for the game called CastleVania III: Dracula's Curse is slightly different than the game _I'm_ used to."     "Yeah, Dracula isn't in the game." Mike Vincent said. "Instead, it's a generic vampire called 'The Count'."     "The music seems to be the same, though." Kevin continued. "Also, Mega Man is _blue_ here?!"     Mandi nodded, smiling. "Yep! The blue bomber!"     "So, no _green_ bomber." Kevin concluded. "And what's with this Dr. _Light?"_     Mandi grinned. "He's _sometimes_ called Dr. Right. Translation goof."     "Well, at least the _music_ seems the same." Kevin finished. 

    "And this is my computer." Mark said, walking into the dining room.     The others followed him.     Mark took the plastic dust protector off the keyboard and laid it on the dining room table. He turned on the computer and monitor.     The computer booted up. When Windows For Workgroups 3.11 started, all of them except for Mike Rohm and Matt smiled.     Mark's Windows desktop was the Season 1 cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Geordi LaForge said "All systems ready, Captain."     "Aw, geez." Matt said.     Mark sat in his chair. He double-clicked on File Manager and went to the c:\captainn directory.     Kevin noticed the comics directory. "I wanna ask you about the comics."     "Yeah?" Mark asked.     "They take place in another universe, right?"     Mark nodded. "Uh-huh."     "Well, that means that the other Videoland is...out there somewhere."     Mark smiled. "You might someday _meet_ them, Kevin."     Kevin smiled. "Awesome!"     "Anyway, I got a lot of stuff here." Mark said. "The page, of course, all of the Season 4 episodes and drafts, some Season 5 episode drafts, the movie I'm writing, independent fanfics, screens captures, comic book scans, video box scans, - "     Lana laughed. "We saw those!"     Kevin picked up a piece of paper from the table that the scanner was on.     "What's this?" he asked.     Matt snatched it away. "Nothing important."     "It's a drawing Matt did of a character he's introducing in Season 5. In case your universe _does_ continue to follow the fanfic we write here, it would be best that you don't know what's to come." Mark smiled. "It'll spoil the surprises!"     Stacey laughed. "Like, good point!"     "I _can_ copy the independent fanfics for you." Mark said. "Like Mandi's excellent Mega Man--The Series!"     Kevin smiled. "Yeah, that'd be _great!"_     "We'll do that later." Mark said. "Right now, I wanna introduce you to emulation."     "Emulation?" Mike Vincent asked.     "People have written software programs called emulators." Mark explained. "What they do is they make your PC mimic another computer system, such as a video game console. This allows you to play video games on your PC!"     "Awesome!" Kevin said again.     "The data in the game cartridges are dumped into files called ROMs." Mark went on. "Just run the emulator and load up a ROM. A gamepad would help, though. Otherwise, you'd have to use the keyboard, which is really only good for computer games like DOOM and Duke." Mark picked up his gamepad. "This is my Gravis PC GamePad. I got it when I bought MKII for fifteen bucks."     "It looks like a Super Nintendo controller." Lana observed.     Mark nodded. "Uh-huh." He placed it in his lap.     Mark exited File Manager and exited Windows.     At the C:\> prompt, he typed in cd\games\nes and hit Enter.     "When you play Gameboy games on the PC, they're on a big screen, so you can actually see what you're doing." Mark faced Mandi. "And I _still_ say it's better than playing the _real_ Gameboy."     Mandi shrugged.     "Right now, though, we're gonna play NES games." Mark said.     He typed in nesticle and hit Enter.     Stacey smiled. "Nesticle?"     Mark laughed. "Yeah, from Bloodlust Software."     "These guys rule." Mike Vincent said.     Mark stood up and handed Kevin the GamePad. "Go for it."     "All right!" Kevin sat down in Mark's chair.     Lana smiled. "Nice mouse cursor." she said, noticing the bloody, severed hand.     Kevin chose File, then Load .ROM. He picked CASTLE1 from the list.     The first CastleVania started.     "Hit Escape to get rid of the menu." Mark said.     Kevin did.     When Kevin pressed the round blue button to start the game, the familiar 'Intro' tune came on as Simon walked up to the gate of the castle. Then Stage 01 started, and 'Vampire Killer' rang out from the computer speakers.     Kevin, Lana, Stacey, Mike Vincent, Mark, Nick, and Andres sang along with the game.     "Wait 'til ya hear it with _lyrics!"_ Mark said.     "Lyrics?!" Lana asked, surprised.     "Is that _Simon?!"_ Kevin asked, looking at the screen.     "He looks so _different!"_ Lana remarked. "No backpack! No blue fur coat or goggles!"     "He actually looks _cool!"_ Mike Vincent said. 

    After Kevin and the others had played emulated games for a while, Mark went back into Windows.     He double-clicked on WinDAT and loaded DANCINWI.WAV.     "Oh, no." Mike Rohm said.     Mark hit the space bar, and Billy Idol's 'Dancing With Myself' came on.     _"No!!!"_ Matt screamed.     Kevin and Lana joined hands, as did Mike Vincent and Stacey.     Mark stood up and faced Mandi, smiling. "Wanna dance?"     Mandi smiled. "Sure."     They joined hands.     The six of them started dancing. 

    On the floors of Tokyo,     Down in London town's a go-go,     With the record selection     And the mirror's reflection,     I'm a-dancing with myself. 

    Oh, when there's no one else in sight     In the crowded, lonely night,     Well, I wait so long for my love vibration,     And I'm dancing with myself. 

    "C'mon, Matt, dance!" Mark said.     "No, Mark." Matt replied. "I'm not gonna dance. It's not because I _can't._ It's because I _won't."_     So, Kevin danced with Lana, Mike danced with Stacey, and Mark danced with Mandi. 

    If I looked all over the world,     And there's every type of girl,     But your empty eyes seem to pass me by     And leave me dancing with myself. 

    So let's sink another drink,     'Cause it'll give me time to think.     If I had a chance, I'd ask one to dance,     And I'd be dancing with myself. 

    Oh, oh, oh, dancing with myself.     Oh, oh, oh, dancing with myself.     Well, there's nothing to lose,     And there's nothing to prove,     And I'm dancing with myself.     Oh, oh, oh, oh.     Oh, oh, oh, oh.     Oh, oh, oh, oh.     Oh, oh, oh, oh. 

    After the song was over, Mark exited WinDAT, exited Windows, and turned off the computer and monitor. He placed the plastic dust protector back over the keyboard.     "Hey, let's go to school." Mark said.     "What?!" Matt asked.     "We can have some fun and surf the 'Net!" Mark said.     "Oh, okay." Matt said. 

    So, they all went to Central Florida Community College.     They walked up the stairs and walked into Building 2.     Matt stopped and faced the N Teamsters. "Hey, we have an equivalent to Mother Brain here. His name is Tony Gil. He's the computer teacher."     Kevin grinned. "Want us to fry him?!"     Lana looked at him. "Kevin, what are you _saying?!"_     Kevin looked at her. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"     Mark smiled. "Hey, Matt, _I_ know something we could do! Remember your logos.sys file at home?"     Matt grinned. "Oh, yeah!"     Mike Vincent smiled. "What?"     "It's actually a bitmap file." Matt explained. "It tells your computer what to display when you shut it down in Windows 95. All you have to do is open it up in a program like Paint to edit it."     "Eck. Get Deluxe Paint." Mandi recommended.     "I personally use Paintshop Pro." Matt said. "Anyway, I changed it on my computer at home, so I get a different message when my computer shuts down."     "Let's go change it." Mike Rohm said with a smile.     They all went inside Gil's classroom. 

    About twenty minutes later, they walked out, laughing.     "Careful." Matt said suddenly. "He might be around."     "Boy, that sure was fun, formatting all the hard drives!" Mike Rohm yelled.     "And going to all those newsgroups!" Matt added. "Dr. Gil sure would get mad if he found out we were in newsgroups!"     "Alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.anime!" Mark yelled.     Everyone looked at Mark.     Mark shrugged with a smile.     "Let's go to the library and have fun surfin' the 'Net." Matt suggested. 

    They all went into Cletus Poser's office. Cletus was Matt's boss.     Matt sat down in front of Cletus' computer, and Mark sat in the chair to his right.     Matt double-clicked on Netscape Communicator. Then he went to his "The Transformers: The Movie" site at: 

    http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/Set/4389/ 

    "This used to be the location of my Captain N site." Mark said. "Then I gave it to Matt when I moved off of GeoCities."     "I put up this site to try and get Transformers: The Movie back in print, as well as to get its soundtrack CD back in music stores." Matt said.     "Oh, man, that was a cool film!" Kevin said.     "Could you guys sign the petition?" Matt asked.     "Sure!" Kevin said.     "I've never seen the movie." Lana said.     "Who cares?! Lie!" Matt told her.     So, everyone except for Mark and Matt, who had already signed, signed the petition now.     Then they viewed Matt's Dreambook and read all of the comments.     "Imm-hmm." Mark said.     "Imm-hmm." Matt added.     "Imm-hmm, imm-hmm, imm-hmm." they both said.     "Imm-hmm." Matt said.     "Imm-hmm." Mark echoed.     "Imm-hmm, imm-hmm, imm-hmm." they both said again.     Then they both started moving their arms, doing a little dancing motion in their seats. "Imm-hmm, imm-hmm. Imm-hmm, imm-hmm, imm-hmm."     The others were all looking at them now.     Then Mark and Matt started doing wild movements, snapping their fingers as they sang "Imm-hmm, imm-hmm! Imm-hmm, imm-hmm, imm-hmm!"     Then they stopped. They turned around.     Everyone was staring at them strangely.     "What's _your_ problem?" Mark asked.     Matt held up his right index finger. "Mark, they, uh, the, well, uh, - " Matt began sputtering nonsense as he tried to vocalize his thought.     Finally, he gave up, and he and Mark just nodded at each other and said "Riiigggghhhhhtttt!"     Everyone else just watched them silently.     "So, Mark, you do your whole site with Notepad, huh?" Kevin asked, moving on to another subject.     Mark nodded. "Yep!"     "I guess you're, like, really good at HTML, huh?" Stacey asked.     "I don't know _everything."_ Mark admitted. "But, yeah, I'd say I'm _pretty_ good."     "My boss, Cletus." Matt said. "I told him he's not allowed to do HTML anymore."     "Why not?" Andres asked.     "Mark, I told you how Cletus does HTML, haven't I?" Matt asked.     Mark nodded. "Yeah."     Matt smiled. "Begin table, end table, begin row, end table, end row, begin cell, end row, end table, begin cell, end table, end table, begin table, end row, end cell, begin cell, end row, begin table. I won't even _go_ into where he puts the _actual data."_     "Well, I personally don't use any type of HTML editor." Mandi said. "They drive me batty. My work makes me use Front Page 98, which is annoying as _hell,_ but it has some nifty features." She smiled. "But if your boss is having problems like that, he should use something like Netscape Composer."     "He _did_ that with Composer!" Matt said.     "Oh." Mandi said, then laughed. "Oops."     "Well, let's go back to your house, Mark." Matt said, standing up.     Mark stood up, too. "Okay."     They all walked out of the office.     "We gotta stop by Wal-Mart and get a bunch of disks, so I can copy games, fan art, fanfics, and other stuff for you." Mark said.     Kevin nodded. "Cool." 

    When they got to the elevator, Matt pressed the button.     They all got inside.     Matt and Mark did their ritual sliding thing, ending up against the back wall of the elevator.     Then Matt stood up straight and gave Mark two thumbs-up, grinning. Mark mimiced it.     Mandi raised an eyebrow. "Care to fill the rest of us in?"     "We do that every time we walk into the elevator." Matt said. "Usually when I've got the munchies, and we go down to the student lounge. Mark's finally got it right. Before, he would always slam up against the back wall, and the whole elevator would shake!" 

    At Wal-Mart, they were all in the Home Electronics department.     Mark, Mandi, and Matt were buying a whole bunch of computer disks.     Kevin shook his head. "What has music come to?" He was by the CDs.     "What do you mean?" Lana asked.     "A bunch of Rap and some new crap called Alternative." Kevin said in disgust.     "Like, I'm sure it's not _all_ bad, Kevy." Stacey comforted him.     "Stacey, there's a group called The Butthole Surfers." Kevin said.     Stacey took the CD from his right hand and looked at the front cover. She then put it back on the rack. "Whatever!"     "And Wal-Mart modifies CDs to delete profanity." Andres complained. "And what the hell? I can't find any Rammstein! Screw this store! Wal-Mart's based on Nazi-esqe Christian principles! This is censorship, man!"     Just then, a Wal-Mart employee walked up to him. "Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave."     Andres faced him. "That's right, you _better_ be afraid."     "Escort this gentleman out." the employee told two much larger and muscular employees.     One man grabbed Andres' arms, the other grabbed his feet, and the two of them carrying a cursing Andres out of the store.     "How dare you lay hands on the German Devil?!" Andres yelled.     There was a moment of complete silence following Andres' removal.     "I hope music doesn't sink this low on _our_ Earth!" Mike Vincent said, continuing the earlier conversation as if nothing had happened.     "'90s music sucks." Mark said.     "Especially the CD covers." Mandi agreed. "But there's still some good stuff coming out. Amy Grant, Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' from 'Titanic', - "     "I stand corrected." Mark said. _"Most_ '90s music sucks. Anyway, I think we've got enough disks for everything. Let's go home."     "All right, but I wanna rent 'That Thing You Do!' from Act 1 Video on the ride back." Matt said.     Mark nodded. "Fine." 

    "Now, you people are gonna _see_ this damn movie!" Matt said, inserting the tape into Mark's VCR.     He pressed the Play button.     "Screw the previews." Matt said, pressing the Fast Forward button.     He pressed the Play button again when the movie started.     Suddenly, the picture became distorted, then went out altogether.     Then, a strange sound came from the VCR.     Matt quickly hit the Eject button.     The tape ejected, but when Matt tried to pull it out of the VCR, he couldn't.     "Sounds like the VCR ate the tape." Mike Vincent said with a smile.     _"Nooo!!!"_ Matt screamed.     He pulled as hard as he could and yanked the tape out. When it came out, he fell backward and landed on his butt on the floor.     Mike Rohm laughed.     Matt looked at the broken tape. "God damn it!"     Lana laughed. "You and your silly superstitions! You actually believe that a supernatural diety is responsible for what happened to the tape!"     Matt turned around and stared at Lana. "I'm very pissed right now. Do not talk to me while I'm pissed, or I _will hurt you."_     Mark clapped his hands together, standing up. "Let's have lunch!"     Mandi stood up, too. "Cool. What are we having?"     "Pizza!" Mark said.     Kevin stood up. "Great! Is it the Captain N Special?"     "Uh,...no." Mark said.     They all walked into the kitchen, where Rick was still sitting at the table, working on the warp zone opener.     "Hey, Rick. How's it goin', buddy?" Kevin asked.     Rick's eyes were purple. "Sleep! Need sleep!" he growled.     Kevin looked away. "Whoa." 

    They were all eating a large Tombstone Supreme Pizza at the dining room table.     Rick ran into the dining room, holding the opener in his left hand. "It's _done!_ I _fixed_ it!"     Lana beamed. "All right! We can go home!" She looked at Mark. "Uh, not that this visit wasn't _enjoyable!"_ she said apologetically. "You were a wonderful host!"     Mark smiled.     Kevin smiled. "Hey, before we leave, ya know that dork, Victor, that lied to you about us?"     Mark nodded.     Mike Vincent grinned. "Let's kick his ass." 

    Mark knocked on the front door of Victor's mobile home, which was only a short distance from Mark's house.     The door opened, and Victor came out. He was wearing sneakers, shorts, a basketball jersey, and a cap on backwards.     "Hey, Victor, remember me?" Mark asked with a smile.     Victor smiled. "Ah. Mark, my diligent colleage. What brings you by?"     "Remember when you lied to me about Captain N?"     "Uh,...no. I never lied to you." Victor claimed.     "Yes, you _have,_ Victor. And now it's payback time!"     Mark stepped to his right, and Kevin and Mike Vincent came forward.     "Lie about _us, huh?!"_ Kevin asked.     "What the hell?!" Victor asked.     "Die, squirt!" Mike Vincent yelled. He grabbed Victor by his jersey and pulled him forward.     The others all watched as Kevin, Mike, and Andres beat the crap out of Victor for lying about Captain N.     "Release me, you fiends!" Victor cried. "I was telling the _truth_ about the Phoenix Saga! And the Silver Series!" Victor started screaming in agony.     Finally, Mike Vincent slammed Victor's bruised, broken body down on the ground.     "You didn't _kill_ him, _did_ you?" Lana asked.     "Nah." Mike assured her.     "Well, I guess we, like, better get going!" Stacey said.     "Okay. You've got all the disks, right, Rick?" Mark asked.     "Yep." Rick said, holding up the white plastic bag in his right hand.     "I guess this is it, then." Andres said. "See ya, guys."     Kevin smiled. "Hey, this might be kinda a wacky idea, but...how would you guys like to come with us?"     "What?" Nick asked.     "To Videoland?!" Mark asked.     "Yeah." Kevin said.     "Guys, they're not going _anywhere!"_ Matt said. "I _told_ you, these are _actors!_ This has all been a _lie!"_     "That's right!" Mike Rohm said.     The two disbelievers did a high-five.     "Ah, still the skeptics." Lana said with a smile. She took the warp zone opener out of her front left jeans pocket. "Then how do you explain _this?!"_     She pressed a button. A swirling blue warp opened up.     Lana looked at them with a smile. "Well?"     "Cheap special effects!" Mike Rohm yelled.     "It's a clear rip-off from Sliders!" Matt added.     _"I_ believe you!" Mark told Lana.     "Me, too!" Mandi agreed. She gazed at the warp. "It looks like magic!"     "Well, it _is."_ Lana said, then shrugged and smiled. "Kind of."     They all went into the warp. 

    They all exited the warp and found themselves standing in front of the N Team's house in Megaland.     The N Teamsters smiled, glad to be home, while their friends from Earth were all looking around in amazement.     "Cool!" Mark said, looking at his hands and arms.     "Wild!" Mandi added.     Matt was looking at his arms, then he whacked Mark in the back of the head. "Why didn't you _tell_ me this was real!"     Mark smiled, shrugged, and shook his head.     Just then, the front door of the house opened, and the rest of the N Team came outside.     "Where have you guys mega _been?!"_ Mega Man asked.     "We've been worried sickicus!" Kid Icarus added.     Kevin laughed. "It's a long story, guys!"     "Well, we're just glad you're all right!" Romeo said.     Matt walked over to Gameboy. "Shall we play a game?" he asked the game computer in a near-perfect imitation of his voice.     Gameboy beeped happily. "I am programmed to play games!"     Simon walked over to Matt. "Hey, who are _you?"_ the vampire hunter demanded.     Matt looked at him and smiled. "Oh, you didn't know? Yo' ass better call somebody!"     "Duh, who are _these_ guys?" Julius asked, just now noticing the extra people.     "These are our new friends." Lana said with a smile. "These are Mark Moore, Mandi Paugh, Matt Slater, Mike Rohm, Nicholas Pinto, and Andres Thalheimer. Guys, meet the rest of the N Team: Mega Man, Kid Icarus, Simon Belmont, Romeo Roberts, Julius Jones, Gameboy, and Duke!"     Mark and his friends grinned.     Mark leaned over to Mandi. "I _told_ you they speak English in Videoland!" he whispered in her right ear.     "Translation utility I tell you." Mandi smiled and stuck out her tongue. "Besides, this is _your_ Videoland." She walked over to Mega Man. "We finally meet!"     Mega Man grinned. "Are you a fan of mine?"     Mandi smiled. "Kinda. Hmm, these aren't the same people that I dream of, but maybe that means the ones I know are out there somewhere, too!"     Suddenly, another warp opened on the lawn, and a blonde girl came out.     "Hi, guys!" she said.     Lana smiled. "Hey, Kristen!"     "Kristen?" Mark asked. He walked up to her and swept her up in a big hug.     "Do I _know_ you?" Kristen asked.     "No, but _I_ know _you!"_ Mark said, grinning. "I _created_ you! Kinda."     Kristen looked at the others.     Lana laughed. "We'll explain later." 

    Mandi walked over to Mega Man, who was sitting by a computer in the Communications room.     "How's it going?" she asked.     Mega Man turned to face her. "These stories are mega great, Mandi!" he said with a smile.     She smiled back. "Hmm, well, I figure they're a bit off from your universe, but glad you like them anyway!" She paused, then asked "What do you think of your alternate you?"     "Sounds pretty cool." Mega Man said. "But,...blue? I dunno if I could get used to that."     Kevin, Lana, Stacey, and Mike Vincent walked into the room.     "So, what should we play at our concert tonight?" Kevin was asking.     "I figure we could play - " Mike began.     "Actually," Mandi spoke up, "if you don't mind, there's a little piece I taught myself on the keyboard, if I could play that."     They looked at each other.     "Hey, like, sure!" Stacey agreed. 

    The Megaland concert hall was packed, and there were tons of people standing outside, watching on monitors.     Captain N & The Video Game Masters had become a Videoland sensation.     Seated in the first row were the rest of the N Team, all except two of their new friends, and Kristen. Even Dr. Right, Mega Girl, and Proto Man had come to hear the band perform.     Just then, Mark walked up onto the stage.     The audience hushed.     Mark turned on Kevin's microphone. "Good evening. My name is Mark Moore. I am honored to introduce Captain N & The Video Game Masters! Tonight, performing on keyboard, will be my friend and fellow dimensional Slider, er, warper, Mandi Paugh!"     The audience began cheering and applauding.     Mark walked off the stage, and the band members walked on.     Kevin, Lana, Mike, and Mandi were dressed in black sneakers, black pants, black shirts, and black leather jackets - the usual band attire.     Kevin looked at Mandi and smiled. "Hey, how 'bout we give you guys your own warp zone openers? That way, you can come visit us whenever you want!"     Mandi grinned. "Thanks! Now I can find the universe that I dream of!"     "Say the opening speech for us?" Lana asked with a smile.     "Sure."     They turned on their microphones.     Mandi pulled hers closer to herself so that it would pick up her voice.     "Evening." she greeted, paused sufficently, then continued: "Tonight, the universe just got a little smaller. Another world has touched this one, and the two have been brought together. I'd like to start off with a little piece from a totally different world that is touching mine. It's Break Man's tune that reached our world as part of Mega Man 3. Dedicated to Dr. Li-er, Dr. _Right_ and his favorite creations: Rock, Roll, and Blues!"     Dr. Right, Mega Man, Mega Girl, and Proto Man exchanged confused glances.     The scientist smiled. "Hey, I _like_ that! Would you three mind if I call you that from now on?"     Mega Man shrugged, smiling. "Sure!"     "Okay!" Mega Girl said, smiling also.     "Blues." Proto Man repeated, then shrugged and smiled. "Why not?"     Mandi pushed the mic back into place and poised her hands over the keyboard. "Rock on!"     Music flowed from the instrument. At first, the notes emulated a simple human whistle, light and flowing. Then, a piano accompaniment joined the whistle, melodious and free.     The tune went on for about three minutes, becoming very active and lively towards the middle before finally slowing down at the end to fade away with a single note that hung in the air.     All four band members, as well as the entire audience, were moved to tears.     Then the audience stood up and gave a deafening cheer and applause.     Dr. Right, Mega Man, Mega Girl, and Proto Man especially loved the tune. 

**GAME OVER**   
Copyright © 1998, 1999 by Mark Moore and Mandi Paugh 


End file.
